Good morning, it’s Monday.
The nor’easter that slammed into parts of the East Coast over the weekend caused a litany of headaches – from flooding and power outages to downed trees and coastal erosion.
For Jews the list of challenges was further complicated by the fact that the bad weather coincided with the start of Sukkot. This holiday requires construction of outdoor huts where all meals are supposed to be eaten and, if you’re really observant, where all sleeping should take place through the duration of the weeklong holiday.
The word “sukkot” is the plural of “sukkah”, which means “booth” or “hut” in Hebrew. Sukkot is a twofold holiday, celebrating both the autumn harvest and the temporary shelter that G-d provided to the Jews while they wandered in the desert for 40 years after their Exodus from Egypt.
The holiday is observed with the building of a sukkah, a temporary hut constructed outside with walls made from canvas, fabric, or wood and a makeshift roof of branches, bamboo, or greenery (basically, anything that was originally part of a plant growing in the ground) known as “schach“.
The roof is not intended to provide shelter from the elements, but is intentionally spacious so people inside the sukkah can see the stars. You can’t build your sukkah under a tree and call it a day, assuming the branches will provide sufficient cover. This is cheating AND does not allow for a clear view of the sky.
Though a sukkah is supposed to be sturdy enough to last an entire week and stand up to the sort of weather that one generally sees during mid-fall – some wind, a little rain here and there – it is most definitely NOT intended to withstand torrential downpours or wind gusts of 60 mph or more.
A strong storm like this past weekend’s nor’easter presents a significant challenge, but Jewish law does address this issue with the “rule of discomfort” (AKA mitztaer). Under this rule, anyone who is in any way distressed by the conditions inside the sukkah – cold temperatures, rain, strong winds etc. – is exempt from having to eat or sleep there.
Jews are expected to make an effort, however, to eat at least a small amount inside the sukkah regardless of the weather, and say some brief prayers – especially on the first night of the holiday. However, rabbis stress that Jews should prioritize their own safety and that of their friends and family, eating and sleeping indoors if necessary.
Naturally, as is standard in Judaism, there’s a whole debate about how to make sure your sukkah remains kosher and whether you can ask a non-Jewish friend or neighbor to assist you in rebuilding it if it falls apart on the Sabbath, which, as a reminder, ALSO coincided with the start of the storm.
Many synagogues build a communal sukkah for members of the congregation to use during the holiday, recognizing that not every has the time and/or space to do so. In New York City, there’s a particularly famous sukkah built by Chabad of Midtown in front of the New York Public Library, which is open to everyone until Sukkot ends this coming Friday, Oct. 2, at sundown.
The impact of the nor’easter will continue in the Albany area today, with clouds and periods of rain in the forecast. High temperatures will flirt with 60 degrees.
In the headlines…
The White House has launched another taxpayer-funded television ad before the midterms, this time featuring imagery of President Donald Trump walking down a hall as audio plays of him saying “this is the final battle.”
“We will cast out the communists, Marxists, and fascists. We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country. We will rout the fake news media, and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all,” Trump says in the ad.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday said that his country is “fully prepared” for the conflict with the U.S. to resume if President Trump authorizes new strikes on the regime after the November midterm elections.
As Trump warned in a speech to the UN General Assembly in recent days that he might “annihilate” Iran, a growing number of Republicans were scrambling to find distance from a costly war that has swelled into a midterm crisis for the party.
Trump has asked Xi Jinping, the leader of China, whether he would like to buy American weapons, David Perdue, the American ambassador to China, said in a television interview on Sunday.
Trump has suggested the White House is still considering a diesel export ban as he faces mounting political pressure to tackle soaring fuel prices ahead of the midterm elections in November.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer demanded that the FDA release a report of the sales of vape and e-cigarette products from China.
The British police arrested five men on Sunday on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism after receiving a call around 1 a.m. about three suspicious vehicles headed toward an air force base used by the American military.
Cornell University students chanted “from the river to the sea” and “long live the student intifada” at a Democratic Socialist-led campaign event featuring Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Ithaca.
The Hochul administration skirted competitive bidding by quietly amending a contract with a high-powered consulting firm to boost their deal to an eye-watering $1.1 billion
The demand for electricity is increasing, and the public comment period for New York’s proposed nuclear policies ended last week. Meanwhile, a coalition of 36 Democratic state legislators published an open letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul opposing the plan.
Former Gov. George Pataki, who helped put the Regents exams in place, slammed Hochul and her fellow Democratic leaders allowing the dumbing down of the state’s high-school-diploma requirements by ditching the tests.
The State University of New York has hit one big snag with the “seamless transfer” system it is setting up to usher community college students directly to four-year schools.
In a NYDN op-ed, state Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs makes the case for why he should keep his political job.
Battery storage, an emerging technology growing at blistering speed and strengthening energy grids across the world, is laboring to gain a foothold amid grinding public sentiment in New York.
President Trump’s long-term bromance with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has scrambled Republicans’ collective effort to make the democratic socialist the boogeyman of the midterm elections.
Republican Bruce Blakeman has made Mamdani a central figure in his political messaging — first in his 2025 reelection bid for Nassau County executive and now in his run for governor. But it’s a tough sell after Mamdani and Trump’s Gracie Mansion meeting.
Hochul is counting on Mamdani to help her campaign in New York, but how he does so is still being worked out and so far, he has done little to assist her as Election Day nears.
A union representing New York City taxi drivers is pressing Mamdani to advance a long-delayed package of health benefits for cabbies after three died in their cars this summer.
Mamdani was roasted in the season 52 premiere of “Saturday Night Live” hosted by Knicks MVP Jalen Brunson.
Staten Island City Councilman Frank Morano is calling for Mamdani to change course on how he’s handling homelessness in the city.
Mamdani, a notable Arsenal fan, took to social media to seemingly poke fun at Manchester City being found guilty of major financial rule breaches.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch could win the next mayor’s race given her service record and “dynamic’’ speaking ability, according to former head of the state Democratic Party and ex-Gov. David Paterson.
New York City Council members are considering a new set of rules for e-bikes, scooters and mopeds as these increasingly common modes of transportation continue to raise questions about safety on the city’s crowded streets.
The Brooklyn NYCHA worker killed by a falling tree during the weekend’s nor’easter had an eerily prescient final conversation about the unpredictability of life with one of his neighbors before heading out to work that day.
Tens of thousands of people were without power as a Nor’easter continued to batter the New York City region on Sunday, with parts of the Jersey shore seeing the worst flooding since hurricane Sandy.
More than 40,000 participants took part in the 25th annual Tunnel to Towers 5K Run & Walk NYC on Sunday, Sept. 27. The sold-out event honors FDNY firefighter Stephen Siller and those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.
An unidentified woman who had been stabbed multiple times was found dead on Sunday morning in Central Park, the police said.
Graduation rates have plummeted by nearly 10% at CUNY schools in the past five years, troubling new data shows.
Nassau County drivers pass a Flock Safety camera roughly every 9.5 miles, making its residents some of the most heavily surveilled and tracked in the nation, according to independent data.
Soon-to-be former state Sen. Jeremy Zellner won reelection as chairman of the Erie County Democratic Committee on Saturday, capturing more than 85% of the vote from fellow committee members.
The Cook Political Report shifted NY-21 from ‘solid’ to ‘likely’ Republican — a significant move for a district that handed Trump a landslide in 2024.
The storm that knocked out the lights for large swaths of the Capital Region and Hudson Valley will not fully depart until Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.
The rate of home sales less than $300,000 is declining dramatically in the Adirondacks, according to an analysis of New York state housing data.
With the city of Saratoga Springs’ 24-hour shelter set to run out of money on Oct. 31, a group of city leaders showed no sign of finding a solution on how best to handle the growing number of people experiencing homelessness in the city.
The rise in homeless people at the Schenectady County-owned main branch of its library system has become a heated point of discussion.
More than two years before four children were murdered by their mother and grandmother, CPS caseworkers determined that their mother’s “mental health problems” were creating significant safety concerns but took no steps to remove the kids from the home.
Crews at Albany International Airport are investigating after a small plane’s nose landing gear potentially collapsed on Saturday morning.
Saratoga Springs chef Brady “Buddha” Duhame died from complications with cancer last week at his friend Julie Dwyer’s home in Schuylerville. He was 55 years old.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
